Social media can enhance teaching and learning by contributing to a quality health and physical education (HPE) program. Social networking has equipped HPE teachers with many novel resources for use in their classrooms. Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) is a social media website that allows teachers to search and find lesson ideas and professional…

Demand for school reform, particularly urban schools labeled as "failing," requires a community engagement strategy centered on intermingled social problems: poverty, racial isolation and discrimination, cultural clashes, socio-economic inequalities, and funding disparities. While school administrators are challenged to turn schools…

Rhode Island's "Blueprint for Multilingual Learner (MLL) Success" articulates a vision and research-based principles that lay out what must be in place at all levels of the educational system for MLLs to thrive. Together, the vision and the principles set the foundational structure for systemic improvement of MLL instruction in Rhode…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "School District Health." Contents include: (1) Habits of a Healthy School…

The Native American Needs Assessment Action Plan is designed to assist educators and administrators in addressing the needs and areas of possible opportunity that have been identified through the annual Native American Needs Assessment conducted by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. The Action Plan is organized around areas of need…

To support proactive leadership, the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program proposes five potential strategies system leaders can use to implement the ideas proposed in the "Call to Action" and, ultimately, to pursue social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD) through a racial equity lens. The strategies discussed in this…

Data reveals that significant opportunity and achievement gaps persist between Wisconsin's students of color and white students, native and nonnative English-speaking students, and students with and without disabilities. In 2010, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction identified Response to Intervention (RtI) as a way to begin to address…

In 2013, the USA admitted 69,909 refugees, 26,933 of whom were children (UNHCR, 2013). First- and second-generation refugee children may experience trauma related to the experience of displacement in addition to the obstacles of learning the English language. Given that students who speak English as a second language continue to perform…

This correlational, explanatory, longitudinal study sought to determine the combination of community and family-level demographic variables found in the 2010 U.S. Census data that most accurately predicted a New Jersey school district's percentage of students scoring proficient or above on the 2010, 2011, and 2012 NJ ASK 7 in Language Arts and…

The Big Lift is a collective impact initiative extending from preschool to third grade in San Mateo County, California. The collective impact effort consists of people and organizations from various sectors uniting to tackle a single, complicated societal problem -- in this case, third grade reading achievement. The initiative is a partnership of…

Family engagement is essential to high quality services for all children in early childhood care and education. From the beginning of life, families nurture their children and the capacities they will need to be ready for school. The Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework for Early Childhood Systems is a guide to understanding…

This multiple case study examines practices of educators in high schools called "odds-beaters". These schools are exemplary in that they consistently achieve better-than-predicted graduation outcomes among economically disadvantaged, African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and English language learners. Findings from this study revealed…

The community school strategy calls on teachers, families, and school staff to take on new and more challenging roles to collaboratively address existing educational inequities. For example, deepened family and community engagement in the schools can help incorporate the rich funds of community knowledge and experience, both in the classroom and…

"Teacher-Powered Practices: How teacher teams collaboratively lead and create student-centered schools" focuses on how innovative teachers are radically changing the ways schools are designed and run. The how here are the common practices, structures, and processes teacher-powered teams design and use daily. The guide identifies nine…

Because researchers know so much more about the brain and development than they did when the 20th-century U.S. education system was designed, this knowledge can now be used to design a system in which all individuals are able to take advantage of high-quality opportunities for transformative learning and development. This playbook suggests a set…